Britain heads for another Gary McKinnon fiasco

It looks like the UK is about to see another legal fiasco as the US tried to have Ryan Cleary extradited to face one of its kangaroo courts.

It is the second time that the US has tried to extradite mentally ill people so that they can kill themselves facing one of the country's over rated tough prison sentences. Gary McKinnon has managed to keep the UK judiciary busy by managing to prevent himself from being extradited. McKinnon became obsessed that the US government was hiding information on UFOs and hacked into their databases to find out the truth. The US was deeply embarrassed by the hack and told him that if he did not want to be locked up for 120 years he would have to come quietly and suffer a six year sentence.

The case showed how the US was able to demand extradition from the UK, in cases where it would not allow the same thing to happen to its citizens. It was made more complex because McKinnon was mentally ill and had no way of telling what he was doing was wrong. The same appears to apply to Ryan Cleary who has been charged with five offences of hacking that are alleged to have targeted three British based websites.

Ben Cooper, defending Cleary, described him as a "vulnerable young man". Reports are that he suffers from a range of mental illnesses and until police arrested him had not left his house for some time. He once threatened to kill himself if his computer was taken away. (Must have been a Mac then. sub.ed.)